This week at Icons, we held our first exclusive signing session with Tottenham star Gareth Bale. Recently valued at an astonishing £150million by his club, the sensational Welsh winger is one of the hottest properties in football. And in the week he was voted the only British representative in the UEFA.com team of 2011, we are delighted to add the PFA Player of the Year to our prestigious roster of the world’s best players. View our full range of signed Gareth Bale products here, and read on to find out more about our signing together.

A team of three Icons employees went to meet Gareth on Wednesday January 25. In a van loaded with shirts, boots, photos and cameras, we departed Icons’ North London headquarters at midday. The location for our meeting was a conference room in a hotel in Chigwell, Essex, just a stone’s throw from Spurs’ training ground. It was in this hotel that Gareth first lodged after arriving from Southampton as a 17-year-old back in May 2007. He returns - four-and-a-half years later - as one of the world's best players.

Gareth was coming directly from training, where he had been preparing with the rest of the squad for Spurs' FA Cup tie against Watford on Friday night. His agent was first to join us at the hotel, and was soon informed via text message that Gareth would be arriving shortly after some routine physio work. He pulled up at 3pm, and after a friendly greeting and a round of handshakes, he sat down to begin the signing process. Gareth began by signing shirts (pictured below), before moving on to boots and finally photos of him in action.

Personable and relaxed, Gareth was a pleasure to work with. Despite a meteoric rise that has taken him from bit-part squad player to one of the world's elite at the tender age of 22, his feet remain firmly on the ground. Gareth's scintillating performances against then European champions Inter Milan in Spurs' 2010/11 Champions League campaign propelled him onto the world stage, but he is completely unaffected by stardom. Gareth was more than happy to chat all things football throughout the session. He took time and care over every signature, and was patient and professional from start to finish.

The session lasted just over an hour, and after one last round of photos, Gareth and his agent were on their way. We were left to reflect on a good day's work, and head back to the office to get the products online for our customers.

Gareth is pictured here with Dan and Nick, two members of the Icons team.

To view Icons full collection of signed Gareth Bale products, click here

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